Submittable Reviews

Pros

Submittable is convenient. As a submitter, it provides efficient mechanisms for making submissions and efficient tracking of those submissions. As an editor, it provides me with notices and updates to allow me to process submissions quickly and efficiently. Submittable is practical. As a submitter, a single page allows me to keep track of active submissions to several publications. As an editor, the features for reaction and response to submitters makes my job much easier. Submittable is uncomplicated, easily used, and easy to understand. As a submitter, these qualities make submissions tracking manageable. Submittable is used widely enough to be familiar to virtually all writers and artists who submit work for publication.

Cons

Our current package allows only 5 of our team members to have access to submissions. I could wish for more relaxed limits in that regard.

Pros

Submittable is a very intuitive platform that allows every employee to use - no matter what their skill level with technology. Adjustments to forms or applications can take mere seconds.

Cons

I wish we were able to search applications by more than just names. And, I wish we were able to compare applications with previous applications for similarities or duplicates.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Submittable

Pros

The software is user friendly and customization of apps is great.

Cons

It is difficult to identify a time and this causes missing submissions sometimes.

Pros

Ease of creating applications/forms, ability to message with applicants directly in the portal, reviewer process is user friendly

Cons

Lack of automation, limited placeholder tags to be able to integrate DocuSign or other 3rd party integrations that would help with automation, delayed reporting, kind of messy once you get a lot of applications/projects set up, no intentional nonprofit relationship management capabilities, limited project/award management features.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Submittable

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Submittable

Pros

Submittable's application forms are very customizable and they allow for a multi-step application process and submitting grant reports.

We're able to create customized reports and export the data easily, although there is a bit of a learning curve to set up the reports.

Collaboration is built-in, allowing reviewers and admins to leave notes for each other and see reviews. We also liked that that collaboration can be locked down so that applicants can either see or not see that feedback.

The implementation team that worked with us was great and provided very valuable training as part of our implementation project.

Cons

We've found the email's generated by Submittable have formatting issues and are often blocked by anti-spam software, so there have been some deliverability issues and some problems with reading the system-generated emails. The development team is aware of the issue (for 2 years) but nothing seems to have been done about it.

Documentation is limited, and they charge for support after your initial setup period.

We end up having to pay for 10 extra user licenses for our grant reviewers beyond the 2 months those licenses are really used. This is because only 10 user licenses are available in our subscription tier, and you can only purchase extra licenses in block of 10 (not individually). So far, Submittable has worked with us on the pricing to be affordable but it would be nice to have the option of adding on temporary licenses for reviewers, or even not having to pay for that level of user since they are typically only needed for 1-2 months.

Pros

It's very easy to use. The drag and drop features when creating forms are great. It saves tons of time. There are so many features! But it's not overwhelming. There is little training involved in form creation, so delegating is a snap.

Cons

The features around managing internal users could be more robust. We are not able to customize what program managers can view - all grant programs can be seen by everyone, partitioning would be a nice feature. Additionally, if someone leaves a grant midstream, it is going to be difficult to get a replacement user as only one user can be the primary contact. This makes updating forms and team applications more difficult.

Pros

I love the clean design, ease of use, and functionality. The projects and forms are easy to create, highly customizable, and user-friendly for clientele. The ease to which project assignments can be made and tracked is another great feature. We started using Submittable to help us manage a sizable photography contest, and have since been finding ways to migrate other activities/contests (like public speaking, leadership applications, and videography to name a few) into this platform.

Cons

I would like to see some type of organizational structure within forms, projects, and the team to help keep different groups or activities separated. Currently, those lists are becoming quite long and clutter up the pages. A folder system would be ideal that might include activity groups as well as a means to archive forms and projects. Perhaps to help de-clutter, I would like for other teams admins to only see the projects, forms, and reports they created. Team member A doesn't need to see everything that team member B has created. Unless they are a level 5, they only need to see their own work.

Pros

The ease of use for students and the customizable review

Cons

The tech support and the difficulty filtering applications that are in-progress but closed for editting.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Submittable

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Submittable

Pros

I love the way that multiple people can view the submissions and be able to rate the proposals.

Cons

It seems like it is more for writers than arts organizations.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Submittable

Pros

It is easy to keep track of many submissions, and see what phase they are each in, and update that info easily. It also automates tedious form-filling processes very well.

Cons

Sometimes the interface is clunky, and there could be more robust ways to customize form templates

Pros

I like the ease of use, as an award applicant. Every grant that you fill out, or begin filling out, can be seen from a main list. Once you click on a specific opportunity, everything about that grant is accessible and in one place. When answering questions, there is a feature that tells you how many characters you've used, so you don't go over what the granting agency wants.

Cons

This isn't so much a problem with Submittable as it is with the way agencies title their grants. It's not always easy to tell which grant is which based on the automatic name the grant is saved under.

Pros

We were nervous about starting this grant program because of the intensity of the management process. Submittable makes gathering, reviewing, and managing applicants and grantees easy!

Cons

I do wish there was a way to organize all of the information in Submittable (as is, I have many spreadsheets going simultaneously).

Pros

I'm a pretty basic user of Submittable, and like how easily customizable the grant application and communication with applicants is. This allows me to create/edit grant applications as needed.

Cons

Sometimes the interface gets glitchy. Also, when I need help with specific questions, I've found their online Q&A helpful but kind of limited, and it has required me trying to get help from our client rep directly for what seems like simple questions.

Pros

I like that they function as a gatekeeper for our contests, add to our authenticity, and help us maintain a level playing field.

Cons

Sometimes I struggle with posting contests, but when I ask questions I've gotten help. I wish you could help us put the word out. Loved being listed in your newsletter.

Pros

I like that it's a fairly easy platform to collect contest entries (which we have a lot of!). I like that I can set up an automated response (even though it's not always easy to figure out how to do that). I like that the personalized responses can add applicant's name.

Cons

I don't find Submittable to be very intuitive. I find myself having to google answers to my question- I'm usually able to successfully find the answer but it isn't user intuitive. Particularly, I think that setting up automated responses should be easier to find. Also, I often make the mistake where I click on a project and it takes me to the description of the form rather than what I'm looking for, the entries. I find myself scared to use the back button because it re-directs me to pages I'm not trying to go to. It's more of an issue on our end but people put so much weight on the "in progress" status etc which we just don't use so I wish there was a way to turn that off.

Pros

The product is easy to use, and adaptable to organizational needs.

Cons

I wish that e-signature can be incorporated into the initial forms. I also wish that there was an option to build your own bundle of features, since sometimes you may have to end up purchasing features within a bundle that you will not use because it has no impact on your specific organizational needs.

Pros

Ease of use. Great way to receive and evaluate grant applications.Friendly support from Submittable.

Cons

Not sure at this juncture. Pricing could be a challenge in the future as we're a small foundation. So far that has been manageable.

Pros

I am able to manage my submissions quite easily with Submittable. It has many sorting options, and several tools to make reading a large amount of work manageable. Working collaboratively with other editors is possible and efficient because of the filtering functions (such as the use of labels, storing submissions, ordering them by date, alphabetically, etc.) and team management tools (such as the assigning of certain tasks to certain individuals, easy messaging, dissemination of work, etc.) I like the basic look/visuals of Submittable, as it is relatively intuitive to use. Furthermore, when I encountered troubles or had questions, I was given friendly and quick help over the telephone, as well as through their chatlines. Editing our site is also very easy.

Cons

I don't like that some services are offered to certain levels of subscriptions and not to others. I'd rather have a good, fair price for the use of Submittable's full functions. It's not always clear to me what I have in my subscription, even though not too hard to check, I suppose. Also, to "test" how forms will look to submitters seems a little complicated, but not too bad once going through it. I feel a little "blind" when sending out ACCEPT/DECLINE. Not sure what the solution is, however, and really does not present any real trouble for me.

Pros

The product covers all the bases, ease of use for staff, review panel, and applicants. They are always listening and improving their product

Cons

Any questions we have are always addressed. Support is amazing and we cannot praise them enough

Pros

Pretty much every feature is a lifesaver. The workflows, templates, ratings, comments, etc. It's all very well thought out and makes collection and responding to submissions of any kind super easy. The ability to collect payment for contests or other submissions is also invaluable.

Cons

Honestly, there's nothing I dislike about this software other than maybe the cost. It's one of the few tools that I think is pretty much perfect as it is.

Pros

Sorting entries, keeping track of judges' progress, contest progress

Cons

Unable to provide summaries of entries per judge (reviewer) in an Excel form, have images but primary data was disorganized, had to download it and do many sorts in Excel on my computer

Pros

Their customer service department is outstanding. Their innovation team seems to be open to feedback from those of us who use the software. I will say, Submittable gives us virtual space to complete our work from all over the world. This keeps our organization and our entire field growing, and our talented team together.

Pros

I'm pretty sure Submittable is the only well-known service of its type, at least at the moment, but with that said, it is easy to keep track of submissions and their status as they come in, they notify you, and you can have an account with multiple people to split up tasks.

Cons

There are some things that could be a bit more intuitive, like tagging people and seeing what others have been assigned. It could be nice to have a reminder for older submissions that haven't been voted on or received a response yet, as well.

Pros

Easy to build custom submission pages and link them on main sites or landing pages. Assignment is also very simple, as is setting up new users.

Cons

I'd love it if there were the option to pay per added user over the minimum. We're on a grandfathered plan, which is AWESOME, and I very much appreciate the kindness offered to online literary magazines, but to get up to the 10 user plan we would more than double what we're paying.

Pros

As an editor, it keeps the entire process of submissions very organized. The ability to archive and track all the submissions that come through here, along with all the automatic data in graph form that Submittable contributes in regards to either our regular day to day submissions or our annual competition, is everything we want it to be. Not to mention that there are numerous places which one can tuck notes about this or that author whose work is on track to be published by us. In addition, allowing the person whose work we're considering to leave notes for us about their submission should parts of it be accepted elsewhere, is a huge bonus for any editor.